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Anyone know of any Environmentally friendly print or cad cut vinyls out there?
- Thread starter depps74
- Start date
signheremd
New Member
EcoSolvent Inks, direct printing onto substrate. Can't say vinyl is all that easy on the environment or "green". I thought I remembered hearing about a newish board that uses recycled materials - can't remember if it was a foamcore type or a PVC.
James Burke
Being a grandpa is more fun than working
You won't find "environmentally friendly" vinyl any more than you'll find environmentally friendly gasoline. Petroleum products leave a definite foot print from the moment the crude is sucked from the earth until it exits the tail pipe...or is tossed into the land fill.
About the "greenest" option you'll find is hammer and a chisel and stone.
JB
About the "greenest" option you'll find is hammer and a chisel and stone.
JB
balstestrat
Problem Solver
There's PVC free options out there. Best to check your suppliers.
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Oracal had a PVC free vinyl for a while but I can't remember the part number. Cast vinyl uses fewer pthalates so I guess that's a little more environmentally friendly.
bob
It's better to have two hands than one glove.
If you find and use what you're looking for, do you really think that you'll have any actual effect on anything? If everyone on the planet did so would there be any actual effect on anything?
I live here, I do the best I can, I take what need, I try not too take too much and I try not to leave too large of a divot. I am not in the least bit dismayed that I do leave a divot. I try not to take more than need or leave too large a divot, not because I give a bowl of foamed bandicoot snot for the environment because I don't, but because taking more than I need or leaving a larger divot than necessary is just like digging a hole too deep, Unnecessary and futile work.
I live here, I do the best I can, I take what need, I try not too take too much and I try not to leave too large of a divot. I am not in the least bit dismayed that I do leave a divot. I try not to take more than need or leave too large a divot, not because I give a bowl of foamed bandicoot snot for the environment because I don't, but because taking more than I need or leaving a larger divot than necessary is just like digging a hole too deep, Unnecessary and futile work.
James Burke
Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Have you heard of the funeral industry's "green" method of "cremation"? Basically, they boil the dearly departed in a highly alkaline solution until they become a gelatinous goo. Upon reaching the correct viscosity, they pull the drain plug and then your loved one is swiftly washed into the sewer system...free to swim along side yesterday's dinner.
Honestly, it was truly "green" long before formaldehyde got involved. And fortunately a lot of people these days are opting for chemical-free / casket-free burial.
JB
Honestly, it was truly "green" long before formaldehyde got involved. And fortunately a lot of people these days are opting for chemical-free / casket-free burial.
JB
Crafty Col
New Member
We have a couple of corporate customers wanting the “green” version of everything . there is a avery pvc free wrap, think mpi 1405 if I’m correct, we also have a pvc free high hi tack material along with matching laminate, both made from a polypropylene I believe.
As mentioned though nothing for a cad vinyl that I know of.
Michael-Nola
I print things. It is very exciting.
I also recall seeing a company at SIGA 2019
If you talk to your expert print supplier, they should be able to give you options on paper vs vinyl wall adhesives, paper-based corrugate vs plastics, expanded PVCs vs wood extrusions.
There are always a multitude of material choices for every application.
Get details on what your customer wants and needs and then talk to your printer on what options you can offer!
In short - yes, lots of these options exist!
Good Luck!
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
Now, while I am a person that does care about the environment (mainly because I worry about the quality of air, food and water that my family and I intake for survival and the part of nature that I enjoy trail riding through). Not anywhere near tree hugging, climate change level, but more in a resource management perspective, the thing that people have to take in consideration that normally with "greener alternatives", one either has to use more of it or the inputs to create said alternative are not as green as one thinks. It order for it to be "green", every part of the production cycle has to be greener and that isn't always the case.
Unfortunately, people think in terms of single level and don't think about "what next" and typically when one goes 3 or 4 levels in, the option isn't quite as viable as they initially thought (and this applies to a lot more areas and not just green resource usage). And in some instances, even worse (why people shouldn't make snap judgements based on emotion/fear etc).
In some ways, I agree with bob in this case, but not so much in his analogy with making too large of a divot and equating that to too much and futile work. Unlike digging a hole too deep, it is actually less work, certainly less cost, to be "dirtier", for the most part. Full tilt, wide open, full steam ahead, use all resources, don't worry about efficiently nesting etc, is easier to do (well until it's time to pay the piper, but only at that point).
Being "greener" in my mind, should also mean being more efficient with one's resources (and not necessarily only the supposed green resources either). It's perhaps more nuance than what some people want to consider (especially considering being nuanced is just about dead in today's times), but that's just my take on it for what's worth.
Unfortunately, people think in terms of single level and don't think about "what next" and typically when one goes 3 or 4 levels in, the option isn't quite as viable as they initially thought (and this applies to a lot more areas and not just green resource usage). And in some instances, even worse (why people shouldn't make snap judgements based on emotion/fear etc).
In some ways, I agree with bob in this case, but not so much in his analogy with making too large of a divot and equating that to too much and futile work. Unlike digging a hole too deep, it is actually less work, certainly less cost, to be "dirtier", for the most part. Full tilt, wide open, full steam ahead, use all resources, don't worry about efficiently nesting etc, is easier to do (well until it's time to pay the piper, but only at that point).
Being "greener" in my mind, should also mean being more efficient with one's resources (and not necessarily only the supposed green resources either). It's perhaps more nuance than what some people want to consider (especially considering being nuanced is just about dead in today's times), but that's just my take on it for what's worth.
Thanks I'm gonna call Oracal today. Love their products. Also good to know about the casts, I didnt know that
YES! ok good to know I wasnt dreaming that at SIGA! Good suggestions. If you happen to recall that company from SIGA please DM me. this client is hounding me and may start looking to other vendors as a result.I also recall seeing a company at SIGA 2019
If you talk to your expert print supplier, they should be able to give you options on paper vs vinyl wall adhesives, paper-based corrugate vs plastics, expanded PVCs vs wood extrusions.
There are always a multitude of material choices for every application.
Get details on what your customer wants and needs and then talk to your printer on what options you can offer!
In short - yes, lots of these options exist!
Good Luck!Y
Actually there was a company at SIGA, I believe it was a soy based product. They had a bunch of product lines, but I cant recall the name hoping someone sees this post and can recall it. See the thread, another poster saw them at SIGA as well.
Also just as a note, there is biodiesel, which is a gasoline made from fryer oil, not the most popular from of gasoline, but it is environmentally friendly gasoline that does exist for engines that can run on it. here is a link that explains the basics.
Biodiesel Basics
www.biodiesel.org
rjssigns
Active Member
Latest Big Picture mag I got had an ad or two for "green" biodegradable materials. Depending on what the spec calls for there are bamboo based papers although I don't know sizes.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
You'll also note that most commercial engines don't handle more than 20% biodiesel. To go fully biodiesel, that would require swapping out components in order to handle it and with the high %s worry about engine longevity. Of course, there are also issues (and regular diesel has this as well, but at a lower temp) with colder temps (the more pure biofuel, the more that is a concern).Actually there was a company at SIGA, I believe it was a soy based product. They had a bunch of product lines, but I cant recall the name hoping someone sees this post and can recall it. See the thread, another poster saw them at SIGA as well.
Also just as a note, there is biodiesel, which is a gasoline made from fryer oil, not the most popular from of gasoline, but it is environmentally friendly gasoline that does exist for engines that can run on it. here is a link that explains the basics.
Biodiesel Basics
www.biodiesel.org
I also do not believe MPGs are the same (in fact lower) with running bio fuel (which goes back to my statement of having to use more of it). But MPGs are highly individual as well, so that may vary. Of course, this doesn't address how it is produced in the first place, before it gets in the used state for fuel.
Soybean (along with yellow corn #5) is used for a lot of products, a lot. Including food (for both people and animals), as well as plastics and various bio fuels. Try pushing everything already to that crop, you'll have people not planting other crops, instead going with that one crop (economics 101, supply and demand) that means that there is going to be a dearth of other crops (especially in areas that can support more). Of course, from there, you have people planting more seasons of one crop which means nutrient leaching to where those land areas won't be able to plant that crop (or closely related crops in that need the same nutrients) until something is done about that (crop rotation, fallow land etc).
James Burke
Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Just how much of that biodiesel relied on fossil fuels? There's field preparation, planting, cultivating, fertilizing, spraying and harvesting. That's a minimum of six trips across the field by my count. And I'm sure many of those inputs required fossil fuels for production (fertilizer, sprays, etc...)Also just as a note, there is biodiesel, which is a gasoline made from fryer oil, not the most popular from of gasoline, but it is environmentally friendly gasoline that does exist for engines that can run on it. here is a link that explains the basics.Biodiesel Basics
www.biodiesel.org
To me, it all seems like having a machine you plug into the wall that "creates" electricity. I'm also kind of iffy on the future of the food supply if a competing use has more economical pull.
JB
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
This is what I was talking about when people just think "one-level" in to something. Once they start going in further and further, people start to realize that the option isn't as good as it was once believed.
And yes, this may be a client desired change, the issues with it are the same and if the client really wants to be environmentally "green", I think that they should be aware of all the concerns to make sure that they truly are making the "best" choice. It kind a reminds me when people were all about grass fed meat animals, but they don't actually think about some grass that those animals eat are GMO and what goes into the life cycle of those grasses as well. But I digress (I can go on all day about this, I know, I know, what a surprise).
James Burke
Being a grandpa is more fun than working
I was required to take an anthropology course in college, and it changed my life forever. I believe every kid should be required to take it, and even more so at the high school level.
One of the most poignant themes dealt with the way that (usually Western) "experts" were brought in to solve cultural problems in seemingly "uncivilized" societies (problems with agriculture, civil unrest, etc....). More times than not, the social "scientists" left those areas far worse off than had they never set foot on their land.
Many of these cultures have existed for millennia with no outside assistance. It's only when the chain reaction was set off elsewhere that problems came, thus requiring the crippling help from outsiders.
Take a very close look around you. I won't mention just how and where, but the USA has been hobbled with the very same crippling malady.
JB